Dambusters, 70th Anniversary today

[IanHenry]

Dambusters: Flypast To Mark Raid Anniversaryhttp://uk.f878.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=2%5f0%5f0%5f1%5f3234580%5fAOJVfbwAAB0 LUZSSYwb2Hz9sG50&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1&appid=YahooMailNeoCL (http://news.sky.com/skynews/)<cite>By </cite>Alistair Bunkall, Sky News Correspondent<cite> | </cite>Sky News<cite id="yui_3_7_2_1_1368706686799_1839"> – 47 minutes ago</cite>


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Dambusters: Flypast To Mark Raid Anniversary
The 70th anniversary of the Dambusters raid will be marked with a flypast featuring a Lancaster bomber, two Spitfires and two Tornado fast jets.
The famous aircraft will fly over the dam on Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire at around lunchtime and then over nearby Chatsworth House where the public will be gathered to watch.
Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson the crews in the 19 aircraft made up of a coalition of the willing from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and one American, practised dropping the untested bouncing bomb from 60ft over the dam in the Peak District before flying on the actual mission on the evening of May 16, 1943.
Their target was to destroy three dams in the Rhur Valley to deliver a punch against Nazi Germany's industrial war machine.
They succeeded in breaching the Mohne and Eder dams and damaged the Sorpe but lost eight aircraft and 53 men doing so. Three were captured, becoming prisoners of war.
Later this evening, a Sunset Ceremony will be held at RAF Scampton where the Dambusters were based. This will be attended by three surviving veterans and the daughter of Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the Bouncing Bomb.
During the day the RAF will tweet the Morse Code signals as they happened , using their Twitter feed @RoyalAirForceUK. They will also post tweets when significant moments happened during the raid.
Wing Commander David Arthuton who leads the modern day 617 Squadron and will be involved in the commemorations told Sky News: "I took command of 617 Squadron in October 2012 and it is a privilege and an honour to lead one of the best-known Royal Air Force Squadrons in this anniversary year.
"The dams raid epitomised ingenuity, immense bravery, superb flying skills and the will to overcome adversity.
"Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC led his team with great focus and utter determination and the qualities and values they displayed then are those that form the foundation of the RAF today."
The destruction of the three dams was a mighty blow to Nazi Germany. It has been suggested by some that the mission was largely a PR exercise but in truth it took Germany completely by surprised.
The Dambusters demonstrated for the first time that a single bomb could destroy vital infrastructure. It was the first example of precision bombing.
The blanket raids that characterised the blitz were the only tactic. And Germany had to rebuild these edifices at a time when they could ill afford to redeploy resources from elsewhere.
Wing Commander Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his leadership and bravery on the night. Thirty-three others were decorated. Their average age was in the early twenties. Gibson himself was just 24.

Also see here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22544567

There's a program on BBC2 tonight, presented by Dan Snow about the raid, and showing the fly past, for anyone who's interested.

Regards,

[brad kaste]

It would have been interesting if Guy Gibson had not died later in the war,....how high in rank he would have achieved? Or in private industry or political office? Gibson would have gone far no matter what.

[arfyhun]

Thank you for the nod on the Beeb's proggy tonight. I don't normally watch BBC programmes, as having worked at TVC when it was still functioning, I know how biased their programmes are.

But even they can't mess up the Dambusters Raid.....

[glh]

Yes, a salute to both Gibson's and Doolittle's people -- brave gentlemen all. :salute:

[GypsyBaron]

Over at the 91st Bombardment Group (H) we payed tribute to those brave pilots and crew that
flew the mission 70 years ago.

Thirteen of us fired up our Avro Lancaters and the first aircraft, AJ-G, rolled at precisely
19:39 Z to fly the same route as those aircraft flew back then. In the dark and down low!

It certainly brought home the difficulties of the mission. making the approaches to the
Mohne and Eder dams was a real challenge to come in from the high terrain around the dams,
down to, 60' off the water and at 220 MPH for the bomb release when the 'wooden bomb sight'
indicated the release point!

The lead pilot, a Brit, shot a nice video of the takeoff from RAF Scampton. Here is the Youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wJsOXE_uJvE

I was #10 for takeoff in "P for Popsie".

Also, back on April 28th a dozen of us climbed into our B-25's and took off from the Hornet
off the coast of Japan and flew on the deck to Tokyo, then onward to ZhuZhou China,
arriving 9 1/2 hours after we took off and very low on fuel!

Paul

[robert41]

Many respects to those that flew this mission :medals:

[brad kaste]

You can't help but love Barnes Wallis. In the beginning, he was viewed as some sort of nutty, esoteric science professor. He was skeptically rejected by the RAF. Through continual hard work and research on his part with his staff,...he proved them wrong.

[PeteHam]

Les Munro, who is the sole remaining pilot of the group, is a member of our Classic Flyers Museum ( Tauranga NZ ). He lives locally down here.

We are honoured to have him as one of us.

I was also privileged to take him flying in our Stearman several years ago.


Pete.

[Smashing Time]

An interesting tidbit to the movie about the raid. The American version released by Warner Bros., had nearly fifteen minutes cut from the movie, added additional footage of crashing planes and re-dubbed the name of Guy Gibson's devoted black Labrador to "Trigger".
Among the film's ardent fans was George Lucas , who reportedly used several elements of The Dam Busters climatic bombing raid as inspiration for the Death Star assault in STAR WARS. ~ Gary Hertz New York City

:kilroy: